Hillary Clinton: Alton Sterling's Death Shows 'Something Is Profoundly Wrong'

[bigtree]

Zerlina Maxwell ?@ZerlinaMaxwell 10h10 hours ago
Hillary Clinton: Alton Sterling's Death Shows 'Something Is Profoundly Wrong'

“So many Americans have reason to believe that our country doesn’t consider them as precious as others because of the color of their skin.”

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday spoke out against the shooting death of Alton Sterling at the hands of police, calling Sterling’s death a “tragedy” and reiterating her calls for “common sense reforms” for policing and criminal justice.

“From Staten Island to Baltimore, Ferguson to Baton Rouge, too many African American families mourn the loss of a loved one from a police-involved incident,” Clinton said in a statement. “Something is profoundly wrong when so many Americans have reason to believe that our country doesn’t consider them as precious as others because of the color of their skin.”

In her statement on Wednesday, Clinton praised the Department of Justice for opening a civil rights investigation into the shooting and reiterated the need for reforming police forces.

“Incidents like this one have undermined the trust between police departments and the communities they serve. We need to rebuild that trust. We need to ensure justice is served,” she said. “That begins with common sense reforms like ending racial profiling, providing better training on de-escalation and implicit bias, and supporting municipalities that refer the investigation and prosecution of police-involved deaths to independent bodies. All over America, there are police officers demonstrating how to protect the public without resorting to unnecessary force. We need to learn from and build on those examples.”

[Silver_Witch]

1. Hopefully Hillary will actually do something if she wins....

I feel pretty hopeless that it will ever be fixed. Hatred and fear are hard to fix and that is the issue. Police have to much power in this country and the media is feeding fear to this country non-stop.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I hope our current elected

Members of the House do something.

It starts with them as they are closest to local governments.

I'm so sick and tired of reading/hearing - wait until the next savior.

Now, now, now.

[bigtree]

3. unbelievably frustrated this morning

Jamil Smith ?@JamilSmith 9h9 hours ago Brooklyn, NY
Police shot a Minnesota man during a traffic stop. As he bled in the front seat, his girlfriend began filming.
https://t.co/MNwxae4oDN

Jamil Smith ?@JamilSmith 9h9 hours ago Brooklyn, NY
I am weighed down by all this. I am heartbroken. I am disgusted. I am angry. I am fragile. I am aggrieved. I am tired. I am fed up. Are you?

[bigtree]

4. I'm not thinking 'hatred' and 'fear' are as responsible for police shooting unarmed black citizens

...as much as unaccountability.

Hatred and fear have always existed and always will. One thing which would take precedence over those emotions would be the instinct for self-preservation when officers consider greater personal consequences for these killings. Right now, they're free to kill black citizens with very publicly demonstrated impunity. If there were successful, consistent prosecutions with substantial penalties applied there would be more restraint from the officers.

[auntpurl]

11. Hillary has a plan to deal with racial injustice

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/racial-justice/

Nothing is perfect of course, and this will be a long hard road that will not be solved by one president, but at least Hillary has a well thought out plan to tackle the issue head on.

[ehrnst]

14. It's complex, and no one person can do it alone.(nt)

[Orsino]

5. Not bad, Madame Secretary.

"Profiling" and "bias" are weak-ass ways of calling out the problem, but she's on the right track. More oversight is key to any solution, but systemic racism and its economic markers are the causes.

[bigtree]

6. not to mention

...her expressed support for 'independent' investigations and prosecutions.

[Orsino]

7. Yeah.

What she's not talking about yet is the cost, the cost of budgeting more for police and independent oversight thereof. That's going to be the excuse for not following through...but we need these things.

[bigtree]

8. that's a misrepresentation of her criminal justice initiatives

Making new investments to support state-of-the-art law enforcement training programs at every level on issues such as implicit bias, use of force, de-escalation, community policing and problem solving, alternatives to incarceration, crisis intervention, and officer safety and wellness.

Strengthening the U.S. Department of Justice’s pattern or practice unit by increasing resources, working to secure subpoena power, and improving data collection for pattern or practice investigations.

Doubling funding for the U.S. Department of Justice “Collaborative Reform” program to provide technical assistance and training to agencies that undertake voluntary efforts toward transformational reform of their police departments. Across the country, there are police departments deploying creative and effective strategies that we can learn from and build on.

Supporting legislation to end racial profiling by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

Providing federal matching funds to make body cameras available to every police officer to increase transparency and accountability on both sides of the lens.

Promoting oversight and accountability in use of controlled equipment by limiting the transfer of military equipment by the federal government to local law enforcement, eliminating the one-year use requirement, and requiring transparency by agencies that purchase equipment using federal funds.

Collecting and reporting national data on policing to inform policing strategies and provide greater transparency and accountability, including robust state and local data on issues such as crime, officer involved shootings, and deaths in custody.

Creating national guidelines for use of force that recognize the need for officers to protect their safety and the safety of others, but emphasize use of force as a last resort and at the appropriate level. The federal government has an important role to play in standardizing best practices for the use of force.

more: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/criminal-justice-reform/

[Orsino]

9. I am not misrepresenting the next President Clinton.

I am correctly predicting the failures of the next Congress.

I still hope to see her leading us to buy the kind of policing we want.

[bigtree]

10. see her

...leading in Apr., 2015.

[auntpurl]

12. Hillary has long coat-tails

as evidenced by the polls that are starting to emerge showing we might flip BOTH houses of Congress.

If we give her our unqualified support and vote for every D on the ballot, we can get there and be in a position to do something about this horrific situation.

[LanternWaste]

13. Your faith-based prophecies are rather creative when stated as absolutes.

Your faith-based prophecies are rather creative when stated as absolutes. Magic thinking-- not just for the religionists anymore...

[ehrnst]

15. It will take more than money. It will take more than congress.

This also has to happen on a local level. At all local levels.

[lovemydog]

17. Thank you bigtree

for always providing solid information here.

I support Hillary Clinton and everyone who is working toward real solutions.

I'm tired as hell of people who nitpick everything to the point of draining energy. We all need to keep offering solutions, keep doing what we can in our personal lives, keep supporting others who are also working toward reducing the injustices around us.

[Orsino]

20. Yes. Real change here must be people-powered. n/t

[ehrnst]

16. Profiling and bias are both expressions of systemic racism, and

it's perpetuators. It's a cycle, no matter how "weak-ass" you think pointing them out is.

Changing the actions of police will need to come before racism in our culture is successfully dealt with, which may take centuries.

Getting police to understand where they are biased, and how to reduce profiling has to happen, and happen locally.

That's measurable, prudent and implementable. Call it what you like.

[bigtree]

18. kick

[bigtree]

19. kick